Grudge 3 and Walled In

Apparently I watch things a lot faster than I can write about them.

This is a double entry for two horror flicks I saw.



Objective Rating (How much merit I think it deserves):
2/10
Subjective Rating (How much I personally liked it):
3/10

Grudge 3, the American version, I can put down as being pretty horrid in the completely wrong sense.

If you are not familiar with The Grudge series, you should definitely begin with the Japanese version, Ju-On. It basically concerns of a curse born when someone dies a violent death. The person's energy lingers at the place death and kills all who come into contact with the place. It's like the haunted house story except much more expansive. Once you enter the house, you are doomed, even if you leave quickly. The curse will follow you to wherever you go and kill you eventually. It can even be spread to other places by people's movements.

But by the time we reach the threequel of the American version, the plot is... lame. Just lame. Stories are fun because they have endings. The Grudge story line seems to lack that. I mean, I get it that the curse seems more horrifying because it's never ending and you never know when it can get to you, but at the same time, after a certain you just don't care anymore. You stop sympathizing with the characters because you know no matter what they do, they are screwed. At which point you start to enjoy their misery and all the different ways they can die. That is generally a bad point.

The original typical ghostly images are kind of old and out of proportions now. The little ghostly white Asian kid isn't even the same actor anymore, so the credibility is greatly diminished. And instead of terrifying, the way Kayako (the ghostly white woman) crawls around is more funny. You just can't care less about what they could do to the protagonists, who are not all that enjoyable when they are not being tortured.

But I gave it a 3 out of 10 just because I like horror movies and I really liked the Japanese version of Grudge 1 and 2.



Objective Rating (How much merit I think it deserves):
5/10
Subjective Rating (How much I personally liked it):
4/10

Walled In was ... kind of hard to watch because it's so slow at times, and it had Mischa Barton from The O.C. in it, which kind of made me lose interest in it (I didn't know about her being in it when I decided to watch it). It had lots of interesting concepts, and I like horror movies that obsess over one aspect of life (in Walled In, it was architecture).

Samantha is a young demolition expert who will become a partner at her dad's demolition firm if she successfully completes her first demolition on her own, which is to blow up a famous architect's last building. It's a hotel/apartment building that almost looks like a pyramid. People's bodies have been discovered in the concrete inside the building, including the architect's, due to the work of a serial killer who lived there, and that's why the building fell into dilapidation and now it's going to be torn down.

There are a few last remaining tenants, none of whom are normal. The building's caretaker, Mary, lives there with her teenage son Jimmy, who has no friend other than their dog. Jimmy's dad is one of the people killed there, so Mary stayed on to be close to where he died. Jimmy doesn't go to school and develops a crush on the first young woman he has seen, Samantha. The two explore the building and what the mysterious architect left behind.

The director is French, and at times the lighting, the cinematography and the production design has an artist's feel to them. But unfortunately the plot is not as strong. The script can have insightful lines about architecture and demolition and how they are opposites and how little it takes to bring down a building when you get to know it well enough. But overall, not too scary and doesn't generate enough for us to care.

The acting... well, Mischa Barton is not as bad as I thought. Cameron Bright, as Jimmy, is a surprise though. He has always had this stubborn little boy quality to him (like in Birth with Nicole Kidman or in X-Men 3), but in this film he is becoming a man. His voice is much deeper and his facial features are a lot sharper, with a lot less baby fat. I can't say I'm entirely pleased with it because it simply reminds me how old we are all getting.

Oy, I need a break already.